“Tell me about Dad,” Braden said. “Tell me why it wasn’t bad enough that you drank from a human, but why you felt compelled to take him too.”
“I don’t know…”
“Don’t give me that. He was a good man, a good father.” Braden struggled to control his tone. Seeing Riley sitting there claiming to be misunderstood was too much.
After a long pause, Riley tilted his head, meeting Braden’s gaze. “You went through the final phase not too long ago. You remember what it feels like when that second heart starts pounding beneath your ribs, screaming for blood. Dad and I stopped for drinks, just outside of Quebec. He was at the bar while I waited in a back booth. It was late, almost closing time, but we’d been out all day looking at different properties. That’s when it hit, the pain was so bad, people were looking. I tried calling out to him, but I couldn’t even make a sound…”
Braden listened intently. He remembered all too well how quick it happens. One minute you’re sitting outside with your family enjoying a moonlit night, the next thing you know you feel like the devil just chewed you up and spit you out and you wake up restrained in Cian’s basement until you have control of your head back.
Dad knew Riley was on the verge of changing. He shouldn’t have taken him from home…
“I just kept thinking, I had to get out of there. Away from people before I lost control. I stumbled through the exit and this poor son of a bitch out there, digging cans out of the trash, wouldn’t let me be. The next thing I knew, I was on top of him, and his throat was ripped wide open.” Riley stared at the wall, his mind back in that moment. “I was so angry at myself…so disappointed I lost control.”
“Then what?” Braden asked, needing the final piece.
“That’s the part I’ve never understood,” he said carefully. “I remember carrying the man, the one I killed, up onto the roof. People would see me in the alley and I didn’t want to be interrupted. I couldn’t hear or smell or feel anything but my thirst. After every bit of him was dry, reality set in. I realized I had to give myself to Dad. Even if he killed me. So I climbed back down,” Riley paused, his blue eyes moist, “he was laying on his stomach, dead. I pushed him over, trying to figure out was wrong, and I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. His face, his neck, even his wrists – they were all bloody, but it was his chest I can’t forget. His hearts had been torn out. Both of them. I never heard the fight. I didn’t even know he was in trouble.”
“How do you know it wasn’t you?”
“At first I thought so. But I quickly learned, a vampire my size couldn’t have fought a damphyr as strong as Lachlan. Dad used to take down bears and moose. It took months before I could even fight another vampire without having my ass handed to me.”
“So you left him there? In the alley?”
“I didn’t know what to do. I was panicking so I tried hiding him behind the building. They had a shed area used for storing lawn equipment. I dragged him in there and covered him with a tarp. All I wanted to do was hide him so humans wouldn’t figure out what he was. I thought if I could just sleep a while, the thirst would wear off and I could bury him. Once it was over, I planned on facing the dawn and putting myself out of misery.”
“So? Why didn’t you?”
“That other man I killed. I felt so bad. I looked in his wallet and found out where he was from. I loaded him in Dad’s car and left him on his front steps so his people could find him. When I returned, Dad’s was gone.”
Confused, Braden shook his head. “But he was dead. Even we can’t heal from that.”
“I know,” Riley said, looking down at his hands. “Whatever killed him must have been lying in wait while I carried him to the shed. Once I left, it came back.” Pushing himself up from the floor, he brushed off his pant legs. “After discovering he was gone, I was hopeless. I tried killing myself, but each time I did it, I just ended up losing control of my thirst and feeding to regenerate any injury I sustained. It was hopeless. A few days later, I met Garrick and Strix. They helped me, taught me how to survive. It’s not the life I wanted, but I’ve been with them ever since.”
Braden blew out the breath he had been holding. The story sounded reasonable enough, but there was no way he could ever know for sure. Regardless of the details, his brother didn’t have it easy. For some reason, he never guessed Riley wasn’t responsible.
“What about the draugar? Did one of them do it?” he asked.
“No,” Riley shook his head. “They didn’t even know what damphyr was. I had to explain it ten times. They didn’t even know where they came from. Every time I mention their Norse history, they can’t believe they aren’t like the vamps from Anne Rice novels.”
“Can they all shift, like Maze?”
“Nah, only the real old. Most don’t live that long because they kill each other over the stupidest things. Even Garrick can’t and he’s been a vampire for thirty-seven years.”
“Maze is older?” Braden said, raising his eyebrow.
Riley smiled. “Yeah, well, she keeps under the radar. That’s what you have to do around here. You either serve others and appear so weak you aren’t a threat or, you become a leader like Garrick, and kill the ones who want to take charge.”
“He’s kept you an awfully long time.”
“I swear the only reason Garrick has kept me alive is because he likes listening to my stories. They make him think he’s a badass Viking or some bullshit like that.” Coming closer, Riley stood eye to eye with Braden, trying to appeal to his sense of kinship. “I know my time with him is running out. That’s why I thought if you came here, saw I’m different, that maybe we could build our own coven. Like in Erris.”
Braden turned away from the heaviness of his brother’s stare. As long as he was living, there was no way he could leave his elders, his mother. Still, it wasn’t Riley’s fault he had been dealt a bad hand. His brother may have made mistakes, but he wasn’t like the stories. Riley had retained some level of himself. If Braden survived, he could try to talk to Donovan and the others about helping Riley find a way to co-exist. His thirst for blood would remain, but if he found a way to feed without harming someone, maybe he could be a part of their lives.
“There is one more thing I need to know,” Braden said, glancing back at Riley. His brother began pacing the room again, like an animal in a crate.
“Anything,” he replied.
“What is your interest in Liz?”
“I would never hurt her if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
Riley nodded his head in understanding. “I didn’t want to say it, but now that we’re spilling our souls – I guess it doesn’t matter much.” Walking across the room, Riley hoisted himself up on an old countertop. “Before I turned, when my abilities first started appearing, I dreamed of my fate-partner,” he said, slowly. “Just once. She was exquisite. But, when I became what I am now and my human heart slowed down and died, I felt the ties that would bind me to her die with it.” Riley’s voice had softened to a mere whisper. “It released her before I even had a chance to find out who she was.”
“Liz,” Braden answered, completely stunned. “You would have been paired with Liz.”
“Yes, no – does it matter?” Riley rushed, now agitated. “Maybe that’s why you were born? The magic that made us what we were knew before I did that I would give into the thirst and become this. Clearly, you were stronger than I was because you went through the temptation without failing. You deserve a fate-partner like her and I don’t.”
“I haven’t dreamed of her,” Braden said, admitting the truth. “And when I changed, I had the elders at my side, helping me through it. You should have had that, too.”
“Yet,” Riley clarified. “You haven’t dreamed of her yet, but even I can tell she doesn’t smell exactly human. She smells like our mother and Endellion.”
Braden’s head popped up. “Are you sure?”
“It grows strong
er the longer your together. I don’t know how you haven’t noticed. It’s like warm bread and fluffy clouds.”
Braden didn’t know why either. He knew that Liz smelled incredible, but he chalked it up to desiring her so much. “Do you think the others can tell?”
“No,” Riley said, rubbing his pant legs up and down. “She smells like home to me. That’s why I can tell where you two are headed. Not to mention her crying into perfectly good champagne over you when she had me for entertainment.”
Braden held his arms tightly at his sides. The frustration building in him was overbearing. “I need you to do something for me. I need you to get her out of here.”
Riley raised a questionable eyebrow. “You think you can fight Garrick and live without my help?”
“I don’t know,” he said, truthfully. “But I do know that if she’s here, she’s at risk and I can’t bear the thought of anyone hurting her. I would rather die than have her harmed.”
“And if I take her away and she falls in love with me?” Riley’s expression now masked his emotions. A flicker of something dashed behind his eyes.
Humor? Disgust? Maybe he hopes I’ll fail.
Swallowing any more doubts, Braden shook his head in resignation. “Then she was always meant to be yours to begin with. Just save her life. Not for me, not for Dad, but for the life you should have had. ”
Sighing in surrender, Riley jumped off the counter on to his feet. “Okay, but I can’t make any promises.”
21
DEATH
In the pitch black, Death entered his private room. The floor oozed beneath his feet as he stepped over the remains of his last meal. The dank smells of decay were a welcomed scent as he unbuttoned his shirt and laid it carefully on the bed. Reminding him of his youth, he drank it in.
The evening’s revelations were all in great fun. How he enjoyed the terror rippling off the damphyr and his pathetic human. Fear was such an aphrodisiac, he almost played his hand – killing them both on the spot, while mindless Riley stood powerless to stop him.
It was while he studied the damphyr that he had his finest idea. He didn’t need to consume him here. The boy’s blood was liquid gold, but it wasn’t Death’s style to share. Like sharks, once his lifeblood spilled, all of the vampires would dive in. That wouldn’t do. Not when the damphyr could lead him to the others of his kind.
Riley told stories for years. Although most paid no heed, he went on and on about the coven full of the two hearted damphyrs, as pure as the morning’s daybreak. The only detail continually held back was where they all lived.
Sliding down on his knees, he felt for the woman he had scavenged the night before. Pulling her closer, not much warmth remained of her corpse, but it was enough to regain self-control. Female, male, it didn’t matter no more. He preferred his partners immobile while he enjoyed them.
Trailing his tongue down her neck and past her once bouncing cleavage, he lapped at the blood that pooled in her clavicle. Having dried since his feasting, the plasma thickened to tender paste. Gripping the female’s wrist, Death bit hard into her forearm, snapping her radius with one clean bite.
As the sweet fluid from her bones mixed with the saltiness of his saliva, Death unzipped his pants, giving in to his needs.
22
LIZ
Liz had a pounding headache.
There was a quick wrap on the door. Turning her back on it, she stared at the wall. She didn’t want to answer. It could hardly be good news. It wasn’t like Braden would suddenly be freed and they could both go home. At best it would be Riley or Strix, coming to eat her so she could be put out of her misery.
How could her world spin around so quickly? It seemed like just yesterday she and Lexie were sharing a muffin in Torrington and complaining about Maxim being a shithead.
Now she knew for sure vampires existed and they were hardly the Cullens. Even crazier was that she had totally fallen for Braden. His kiss still burned perfectly on her lips. But he was locked away and her heart was breaking; she didn’t want to begin thinking about a life without him.
Garrick – he was a twisted son of a bitch. Riley was right, Braden would have been safer if she left. She was a fool. A wedding ceremony? Did he even have a brain beneath that mass of hair? She’d rather set herself on fire and jump off the Great Pyramid of Giza.
But what about Braden? If she refused, would Garrick kill him? Her own life didn’t matter as much as his. He needed to get home, back to the coven who could figure out what to do.
Poor Ruby. What will happen without the cure?
The door swung open, causing Liz to startle. Straining her eyes, she could make out Maze’s feminine form holding some kind of box in her arms. “Did you not hear my knocking?” she snapped.
Liz’s stomach tightened. She didn’t want to fight, but this chick had pushed her limits way too far. “Bother someone else.”
Two other vampires stood staring from the hallway, their black eyes curious as to what was going on. Maze turned and hissed at them until they backed up. Letting the door bang shut behind her, the creature marched into the room and tossed the box on the bed. “Your wedding dress. Just like you wanted.”
“Like I wanted? Are you so old that you’re senile now?” Liz countered back, shoving the box away.
“You had to tell Garrick what I did. You couldn’t just let it go.”
Liz looked at Maze like she had lost her mind. “I didn’t tell Garrick shit. I was out all night with Riley.”
“You lie. You just wanted my place as Garrick’s female.” With each syllable emphasized, Maze’s catlike eyes shone with anger.
“You’re wrong. I wouldn’t choose this life for myself,” Liz muttered, laying her head back down on the pillow. “I’d have to be bat shit crazy for that.”
Standing in silence, Maze just stared. After a while, she bent down and picked up the box and set it on the foot of the bed. “We didn’t wear things like this when I was alive,” she grumbled softly. Reaching in, the vampire pulled out a simple white sheath. The silk glowed silver in the moonlight. “This would have shown too much skin, been too scandalous for much more than a slip.”
Liz wanted to ignore her, but couldn’t help but be captivated by the female’s words. “When was that?”
“My parents came from England in the late seventeen hundreds by boat, wanting nothing more than a parcel of land to farm in peace.” Maze looked at the gown in her hands with a mixture of fascination and disbelief. “I had seven sisters and four brothers. As the oldest, I helped my mother with the cooking and cleaning while my brothers tended the fields.”
Setting the dress back down in the box, Maze peeked up at Liz through heavy fair lashes. “Back then, that’s what females did. We cared for the men and children; we mended socks and baked bread. If we were lucky, we got married before we were too old or too sick from disease.”
“What happened?” Liz prodded.
Maze strolled over to the window, and stared out into the darkness. “One night, a stranger came knocking. He claimed he just settled in ten miles north from where our homestead was. He was well spoken and I knew he was educated which was rare at that time. From the way he glanced at me while conversing with my father, I hoped he would ask for my hand. That night as I went to sleep, I prayed for him to pick me.” Turning to face Liz, Maze’s expression was unreadable. “And he did. While I slept, he slaughtered my family, but decided to let me live as his servant. I’ve been passed from one vampire to the next, ever since.”
Maze came back to the bedside and sat down next to Liz. Even in the darkness, Liz could see the memory wasn’t one Maze was used to sharing. The vampire’s face was streaked with tears and dirt. Without even thinking, Liz reached up and brushed the lump of hair that had fallen into Maze’s eyes. The vampire tensed, her eyes darkening.
“I’m sorry,” Liz said, surprised she meant it. “That must have sucked.”
“Maybe at the time,” Maze shrugged. “But I can’t
remember now, so it doesn’t matter.”
Liz looked down at the box on her bed, dreading its content. She didn’t think Maze had forgotten how it felt to remember. She couldn’t have been much older than a teen when she went to bed dreaming about getting married, only to awaken to an eternity of hell. Like Riley’s story – there was a terrible injustice to it all.
“Why do you have to serve? Why can’t you do what you want? Go where you want to go?” It seemed simple enough. Maze wasn’t exactly a Lon Cheney double. She could probably rule her own nest of night crawlers.
“I’ve always belonged to a male. I wouldn’t know how to live differently.”
Liz knew what Maze meant. When she lived with the Captain, he made her feel like she was incapable of thinking for herself. Under his thumb, she was always second guessing her decisions. It wasn’t until she was moved in with Bev that Liz realized independence took time but one could get the hang of it.
“Times have changed. You don’t need me to tell you that. But, I think you might want to consider getting out of here and trying it alone. Garrick’s a total ass-hat. You can do much better.”
Liz wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard the vampire chuckle.
“Maybe,” Maze replied, her tone a bit lighter. “But what about you? Garrick will bleed you dry and right before your heart gives out, he’ll make you drink from him, becoming one of us.”
“I don’t know,” Liz sighed, once again feeling hopeless with dread. “If there was a way I could pass the buck, I would.”
“There might be,” Maze replied, staring at the box.
23
BRADEN
Riley paced the floor. “I’m telling you, I can’t just march her out the front door.”
“I know,” Braden replied. His head still felt like someone left a boot print in it. “But, it beats jumping with her out the God damn window.”
“I’m draugar Braden. I can land on my feet,” Riley retorted.
Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) Page 10